SEO
The Complete Guide To Google Business Profile Reviews
If you’re like most people, you prefer to work with businesses you trust.
That’s why we often turn to our family and friends to ask for referrals when looking for a particular business, product, or service.
And if we can’t find a referral from a person we trust, we frequently turn to online reviews as the next best thing.
Online reviews have become an integral part of the buyer’s journey, so much so that 77% of consumers now say they ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read online reviews when browsing for local businesses.
And the pricier or riskier the product or service, the more people pay attention to the reviews.
Google Business Profile Reviews Are Front And Center
Yes, there are plenty of sites with reviews including Yelp, Facebook, Better Business Bureau, and many more.
But because most people start out by searching on Google, they will often see Google Business Profile reviews front and center at the top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
It’s important that local businesses have Google Business Profiles that show a good reputation with solid, 5-star reviews from happy customers.
Why Reviews Matter To Local Businesses
Online reviews are important to local businesses for several reasons.
First, consumers rely on online reviews to help decide which local business to choose when it comes to products and services.
According to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Study, 92% of consumers said that negative reviews make them less likely to use a business.
Additionally, 79% of people said they trust reviews as much as a personal recommendation from friends or family.
So those little stars that show up on your Google Business Profile Knowledge Panel do impact what searchers think about your business and how they make purchasing decisions from your local business.
Another reason reviews are important is that they impact local rankings.
According to Whitespark’s 2021 Local Search Ranking Factors report, reviews can influence both the Google Local Pack and Local Finder rankings as well as local organic rankings.
Over the years of this report, there has been a steady increase in the perceived importance of reviews.
The Google Business Profile Help Guide on How to improve your local ranking even says that reviews can help your local rankings:
Reviews can also make your Business Profile Knowledge Panel stand out more to searchers because Review Snippets can appear.
This gives potential customers a quick idea of the good points and highlighting other customers identified in their reviews.
Review snippets show the keywords most mentioned in your Google Business Profile reviews.
(These snippets are selected by an algorithm.)
The most common words and phrases related to the reviews you received appear in bold.
If you’re using the Google Maps App, you get more detail with the Review Snippets.
The common keywords in reviews are in bold and you can also see the number of people who have left reviews with that keyword in their reviews.
All of this means you should do your best to get your happy customers to leave 5-star reviews on your Google Business Profile.
How Do You Access Reviews In Your Google Business Profile?
There are three ways to manage Business Profile reviews.
Since most merchants only have one Business Profile, Google makes it easy for you to manage your Business Profile directly from Google search.
You can also access your Business Profile from the Google Maps App.
The final way to access and manage your Business Profile is through the Business Profile Manager.
Note: Despite rumors that have been floating around, Google is not stopping its investment in the Business Profile Manager.
They even have a dedicated team focused on merchants with multiple profiles that are looking into making the dashboard even better!
Pro tip: Google will be retiring the Google My Business app in 2022, so now is the time to start using one of the three ways to manage Google Business Profiles and stop using the Google My Business App.
To get to your reviews in Google search, simply search for your business name or enter the words [My Business] in the search bar.
You will see your Business Profile manager panel on the left-hand side. From there you can manage your profile.
To get to your reviews, click on Customers and then Reviews to start managing your reviews in Google search.
You can also manage your Business Profile from the Google Maps App on your smartphone or tablet.
On the Maps App, you can either search for your business name or click on your account menu and then click on Your Business Profile.
Next click on Customers and Reviews.
From there, you can see all your reviews and manage them.
You must be logged into your Business Profile email account when using the Google search and Maps App methods.
If you manage multiple Business Profiles, you can manage your reviews by logging into the Business Profile Manager.
Click on the business profile you want to manage, then click Reviews.
Alerts When You Receive New Reviews
When you get a new review from a customer, you’ll receive an email notification.
It’s a good idea to set a rule in your email program so that these emails jump out at you when you receive them.
If you use Google search to manage your profile, you’ll also see a notification of the new review in your Business Profile panel.
And if you use the Maps App to manage your profile, you’ll also see that you have a new review there, too.
If you manage multiple profiles, log in to your Business Profile Manager, click on the business with the new review (or click the link in the email you received on your desktop) and click on Reviews to see your new review.
Reviews For Service Area Businesses Are Different
Normally, when a customer leaves a review for a business, they simply select the number of stars they think the business deserves (1 being the lowest rating, 5 being the best).
There’s a place where the person can write details about their experience and then there is a camera icon where they can upload a photo if they’d like.
But if you have a Service Area Business (SAB) where you go out to your customers’ location to service them – like a landscaper, tree trimmer, pest control company, garage door opener, etc. – the process for a customer leaving a review for your company may be a little different.
In many cases a customer can rate specific service aspects of your business, and these services are displayed directly on the Business Profile review form.
For example, if you run a landscaping company, your customers may see a review form that looks something like the one below:
First, reviewers select their overall star rating for the business, then Google asks if they actually used the business.
Next, the customer is asked what services the company performed for them.
The reviewer can then share their feedback and upload a photo if they’d like to.
The services that show up in the review form come from the company’s Google Business Profile service list, the company’s website (if they have one), or the standard list of services based on the categories or other authoritative sources.
Tip: If there’s a service that’s not appearing in the review form that you’d like displayed, you can add it to your service list in the Business Profile Manager.
Service Review Details Can Help You Improve Your Business
Having this review information from your customers puts service businesses at an advantage and allows business owners to take that feedback to help improve their business.
First, you can see what words people mention frequently in their reviews – so you can see trends, both good and bad.
You can also sort the reviews by the Most relevant, Newest, Highest, and Lowest.
You can also see what service these reviewers hired you for, which is invaluable information.
Additionally, in the summaries of the reviews, you can see “Positive” and “Critical” traits about your service business.
This gives you at-a-glance information about things you are doing right – and ways you can improve your business, process, or services.
How To Read And Reply To Reviews On Google Business Profile
When a customer takes the time to leave a review for you, the polite thing to do is to reply to that review – whether it’s a good or bad one.
According to the BrightLocal Consumer Review Survey, when writing a review, 20% of consumers expect to receive a response (from the business) within one day.
Reviews from customers give valuable feedback on how your business is doing.
And even though no one likes to get bad reviews, negative reviews can draw your attention to areas in your business that you can improve on.
Things like an employee that may need help with customer service skills or a product that may not be working as it should, can be pointed out by bad reviews.
If you respond to negative reviews properly, you may even turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied one.
Replying to a Business Profile review is as easy as going to the review and clicking on Reply.
Note: When a customer writes a review for your business, they can even upload photos – making reviews even more interesting than ever!
If you’d like to Edit or Delete a reply you’ve made to a review, simply go to the reply, and click on the three dots next to the reply and you’ll be given those options.
This works no matter which way you manage your Business Profiles.
Note: If you edit a review response, the customer will not be alerted of the revised response.
Keep in mind that when people see your Business Profile, they will see both the reviews left for your business and your responses to those customer reviews – so be very careful what you say in your replies.
For instance, when you get a 5-star review, responding is much easier.
Good reviews are easy to respond to!
Be gracious and thankful for positive reviews.
Express your appreciation that they are a customer of yours and thank the reviewer for taking the time to leave their feedback.
If you get a negative review, pause and step away from your computer before responding.
(A cooling-off period is always good if a bad review upsets you.)
Don’t let your emotions get the better of you. When replying to a bad review, be polite and don’t get personal.
Thank the reviewer for their opinion and apologize if necessary.
But if a situation was out of your control, feel free to explain that, too.
Depending on the issue, you may want to tell them that you’ll investigate the situation with your employees.
It sometimes works to suggest that an unhappy customer contact you directly to discuss the situation.
That takes the discussion offline (and can possibly turn the negative review into a positive one.)
Whatever you do, don’t attack the person online and do not share personal information about the reviewer in public.
Note: The example below is not the ideal way to speak to an unhappy customer.
The best approach is to handle negative reviews as best you can by politely responding to them.
That shows people that see the responses online that you truly care about your happy customers and those that may not have had the best experience with your business.
Most people are also aware that a business is bound to get some bad reviews – and many people can spot “grumpy, hard-to-please” people who leave these types of reviews.
(And remember, you are not going to please everyone.)
How To Easily Get Reviews From Your Customers
Since reviews are so important to a local business, you should try to get reviews from happy customers.
One way to do that is to give customers a short URL that links directly to your Business Profile review form and ask them (politely) to leave a review for you.
You can put this URL at the bottom of your signature line in your emails, on a feedback card that people can pick up at your place of business, on your website, or on the bottom of your receipts.
Getting your short review URL is easy to do using any of the three ways to manage your Business Profile.
Using search, go to your Business Profile manager panel, click on Get more reviews and a Share box will appear.
You can then share your review link through any of the methods that appear, or you can copy the short URL and give that URL to customers.
If you use the Maps App, you can easily request reviews from customers by searching for your business name, then go to the Get More Reviews panel and click Share Profile.
You will then see the text that will be shown to your customer when shared.
You can share multiple ways, but the most popular is via email or text message.
Always make sure you have permission to send emails or text messages before you send.
You can also copy and paste the short URL and use that via other methods.
If you manage multiple profiles, log in to your Business Profile Manager, select the business you want to create the short review URL for, and click on Get More Reviews.
Next click Share Review Form.
You can then either share the shortened review link via the options listed, or you can copy the shorted URL and share.
It’s against Google review policies to solicit reviews from customers by offering an incentive or bribe for a review (i.e. “You’ll be entered into a contest to win X if you leave us a review.”).
You also cannot have a “review station” located at your business – like an iPad kiosk so people can leave reviews for you at your business.
If you get reviews that violate Google’s review policies, they will likely get reported and the reviews you received will probably be removed.
How To Remove Inappropriate Reviews
Google has policies on what people can and cannot say on reviews and other user-generated content on their platforms.
You may find that a review you receive violates one of those guidelines.
As an example, perhaps the consumer uses profanity in a review they left for your business.
You can flag inappropriate reviews that violate Google’s policies and request Google remove the review by flagging it as inappropriate.
(You cannot flag reviews you simply don’t like.)
If you have only one location, the easiest way to flag a review is through Google search or on the Maps App.
First, find the review that violates Google’s guidelines, then click on the three dots by the review and click Report Review:
Next, select which of Google’s terms the review violates and then click the Report button.
You’ll receive an email in approximately 3–5 days with Google’s decision on whether or not they will remove the review.
If you have more than one location (but under 100 locations), then you can use the Review Removal Tool. (Make sure you’re logged in to your Business Profile email account.)
This tool makes it easy for you to flag and report reviews and check the status of reviews you’ve already reported.
While you’re logged into your Business Profile email account, visit the Review Removal Tool.
You’ll see all the businesses you have in that account.
Select the business that you’d like to report the review for and click the Continue button.
Then select that you would like to Report a new review for removal and click Continue.
Next, select the review that has the violation and click Report.
You’ll then be asked what Google rule the review violates. After you choose the violation, click Report.
You will then see a Thank You screen letting you know that Google received your removal request.
You should also receive an email from Google letting you know they are reviewing your removal request.
How To Check Review Removal Status
To check a review removal status, go to the Review Removal Tool and select the business that you reported the review for and select the Check the status of a review I reported previously radio button.
If Google has evaluated the review and made a decision, you’ll see the ruling in the Decision column.
If you disagree with the ruling, you can Appeal eligible reviews – but be forewarned, it takes a lot to get a review removed after it’s already been evaluated and no policy violation has been found.
Remember, only flag or report reviews with content that violates Google policies.
Don’t flag reviews with content that you just don’t like.
Also, don’t flag reviews for people that you say “aren’t your customer.”
Google doesn’t get involved when merchants and customers disagree about things like that, since there’s no way to determine who’s right.
So be sure to read the policy before flagging a review.
After you flag a review, it can take a few days for a review to be evaluated by the Google Business Profile support team and for you to hear back with a ruling.
Most reviews are processed in about three days.
Note: To flag inappropriate third-party reviews – like hotel reviews – you must contact the third-party review provider directly.
After they remove or change the review on their website, the update will show on your Business Profile.
Help, Some Of My Customer Reviews Are Missing!
You may know about a customer review that just isn’t showing up in your Google Business Profile Knowledge Panel.
There are several reasons why reviews may be removed or not show up on a Google Business Profile.
In most cases, reviews are removed for policy violations like spam or inappropriate content.
Google uses automated spam detection to remove reviews that it considers to possibly be spam.
Google doesn’t reinstate reviews that were removed for spam reasons.
However, because spam detection isn’t perfect, some legitimate reviews may accidentally be removed.
For instance, if you have reviews that you feel were legitimate (i.e., not spam), and you were recently suspended, reviews can sometimes be removed from a Business Profile after a Business Profile reinstatement.
If you lost reviews when your profile was disabled or suspended and then reinstated, contact GBP support for help.
Also, if you recently had two Business Profiles merged, you may notice that some reviews take longer to show up on some platforms, like Google Search or Google Maps. Delays because of a merge should be resolved within a few days.
Note: If you set a future opening date for your business that hasn’t opened yet, reviews left before your business opens to the public will be removed.
If none of these scenarios fit your situation and you truly are missing legitimate reviews left by customers, contact Google Business Profile Support.
Google Reviews DO Matter
Google Business Profile reviews really do matter – but so do other review sites. Google often shows third-party review sites in a business’ Knowledge Panel.
So even though Google is by far the powerhouse when it comes to reviews, remember to also work on getting reviews from other review sites and monitoring/responding there, as well.
More resources:
Featured Image: HAKINMHAN/Shutterstock
SEO
Why Google Can’t Tell You About Every Ranking Drop
In a recent Twitter exchange, Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, provided insight into how the search engine handles algorithmic spam actions and ranking drops.
The discussion was sparked by a website owner’s complaint about a significant traffic loss and the inability to request a manual review.
Sullivan clarified that a site could be affected by an algorithmic spam action or simply not ranking well due to other factors.
He emphasized that many sites experiencing ranking drops mistakenly attribute it to an algorithmic spam action when that may not be the case.
“I’ve looked at many sites where people have complained about losing rankings and decide they have a algorithmic spam action against them, but they don’t. “
Sullivan’s full statement will help you understand Google’s transparency challenges.
Additionally, he explains why the desire for manual review to override automated rankings may be misguided.
Two different things. A site could have an algorithmic spam action. A site could be not ranking well because other systems that *are not about spam* just don’t see it as helpful.
I’ve looked at many sites where people have complained about losing rankings and decide they have a…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 13, 2024
Challenges In Transparency & Manual Intervention
Sullivan acknowledged the idea of providing more transparency in Search Console, potentially notifying site owners of algorithmic actions similar to manual actions.
However, he highlighted two key challenges:
- Revealing algorithmic spam indicators could allow bad actors to game the system.
- Algorithmic actions are not site-specific and cannot be manually lifted.
Sullivan expressed sympathy for the frustration of not knowing the cause of a traffic drop and the inability to communicate with someone about it.
However, he cautioned against the desire for a manual intervention to override the automated systems’ rankings.
Sullivan states:
“…you don’t really want to think “Oh, I just wish I had a manual action, that would be so much easier.” You really don’t want your individual site coming the attention of our spam analysts. First, it’s not like manual actions are somehow instantly processed. Second, it’s just something we know about a site going forward, especially if it says it has change but hasn’t really.”
Determining Content Helpfulness & Reliability
Moving beyond spam, Sullivan discussed various systems that assess the helpfulness, usefulness, and reliability of individual content and sites.
He acknowledged that these systems are imperfect and some high-quality sites may not be recognized as well as they should be.
“Some of them ranking really well. But they’ve moved down a bit in small positions enough that the traffic drop is notable. They assume they have fundamental issues but don’t, really — which is why we added a whole section about this to our debugging traffic drops page.”
Sullivan revealed ongoing discussions about providing more indicators in Search Console to help creators understand their content’s performance.
“Another thing I’ve been discussing, and I’m not alone in this, is could we do more in Search Console to show some of these indicators. This is all challenging similar to all the stuff I said about spam, about how not wanting to let the systems get gamed, and also how there’s then no button we would push that’s like “actually more useful than our automated systems think — rank it better!” But maybe there’s a way we can find to share more, in a way that helps everyone and coupled with better guidance, would help creators.”
Advocacy For Small Publishers & Positive Progress
In response to a suggestion from Brandon Saltalamacchia, founder of RetroDodo, about manually reviewing “good” sites and providing guidance, Sullivan shared his thoughts on potential solutions.
He mentioned exploring ideas such as self-declaration through structured data for small publishers and learning from that information to make positive changes.
“I have some thoughts I’ve been exploring and proposing on what we might do with small publishers and self-declaring with structured data and how we might learn from that and use that in various ways. Which is getting way ahead of myself and the usual no promises but yes, I think and hope for ways to move ahead more positively.”
Sullivan said he can’t make promises or implement changes overnight, but he expressed hope for finding ways to move forward positively.
Featured Image: Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock
SEO
56 Google Search Statistics to Bookmark for 2024
If you’re curious about the state of Google search in 2024, look no further.
Each year we pick, vet, and categorize a list of up-to-date statistics to give you insights from trusted sources on Google search trends.
- Google has a web index of “about 400 billion documents”. (The Capitol Forum)
- Google’s search index is over 100 million gigabytes in size. (Google)
- There are an estimated 3.5 billion searches on Google each day. (Internet Live Stats)
- 61.5% of desktop searches and 34.4% of mobile searches result in no clicks. (SparkToro)
- 15% of all Google searches have never been searched before. (Google)
- 94.74% of keywords get 10 monthly searches or fewer. (Ahrefs)
- The most searched keyword in the US and globally is “YouTube,” and youtube.com gets the most traffic from Google. (Ahrefs)
- 96.55% of all pages get zero search traffic from Google. (Ahrefs)
- 50-65% of all number-one spots are dominated by featured snippets. (Authority Hacker)
- Reddit is the most popular domain for product review queries. (Detailed)
- Google is the most used search engine in the world, with a mobile market share of 95.32% and a desktop market share of 81.95%. (Statista)
- Google.com generated 84.2 billion visits a month in 2023. (Statista)
- Google generated $307.4 billion in revenue in 2023. (Alphabet Investor Relations)
- 63.41% of all US web traffic referrals come from Google. (SparkToro)
- 92.96% of global traffic comes from Google Search, Google Images, and Google Maps. (SparkToro)
- Only 49% of Gen Z women use Google as their search engine. The rest use TikTok. (Search Engine Land)
- 58.67% of all website traffic worldwide comes from mobile phones. (Statista)
- 57% of local search queries are submitted using a mobile device or tablet. (ReviewTrackers)
- 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when conducting a search on their smartphones. (Think With Google)
- 54% of smartphone users search for business hours, and 53% search for directions to local stores. (Think With Google)
- 18% of local searches on smartphones lead to a purchase within a day vs. 7% of non-local searches. (Think With Google)
- 56% of in-store shoppers used their smartphones to shop or research items while they were in-store. (Think With Google)
- 60% of smartphone users have contacted a business directly using the search results (e.g., “click to call” option). (Think With Google)
- 63.6% of consumers say they are likely to check reviews on Google before visiting a business location. (ReviewTrackers)
- 88% of consumers would use a business that replies to all of its reviews. (BrightLocal)
- Customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if they find a complete Business Profile on Google Search and Maps. (Google)
- Customers are 70% more likely to visit and 50% more likely to consider purchasing from businesses with a complete Business Profile. (Google)
- 76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day. (Think With Google)
- 28% of searches for something nearby result in a purchase. (Think With Google)
- Mobile searches for “store open near me” (such as, “grocery store open near me” have grown by over 250% in the last two years. (Think With Google)
- People use Google Lens for 12 billion visual searches a month. (Google)
- 50% of online shoppers say images helped them decide what to buy. (Think With Google)
- There are an estimated 136 billion indexed images on Google Image Search. (Photutorial)
- 15.8% of Google SERPs show images. (Moz)
- People click on 3D images almost 50% more than static ones. (Google)
- More than 800 million people use Google Discover monthly to stay updated on their interests. (Google)
- 46% of Google Discover URLs are news sites, 44% e-commerce, 7% entertainment, and 2% travel. (Search Engine Journal)
- Even though news sites accounted for under 50% of Google Discover URLs, they received 99% of Discover clicks. (Search Engine Journal)
- Most Google Discover URLs only receive traffic for three to four days, with most of that traffic occurring one to two days after publishing. (Search Engine Journal)
- The clickthrough rate (CTR) for Google Discover is 11%. (Search Engine Journal)
- 91.45% of search volumes in Google Ads Keyword Planner are overestimates. (Ahrefs)
- For every $1 a business spends on Google Ads, they receive $8 in profit through Google Search and Ads. (Google)
- Google removed 5.5 billion ads, suspended 12.7 million advertiser accounts, restricted over 6.9 billion ads, and restricted ads from showing up on 2.1 billion publisher pages in 2023. (Google)
- The average shopping click-through rate (CTR) across all industries is 0.86% for Google Ads. (Wordstream)
- The average shopping cost per click (CPC) across all industries is $0.66 for Google Ads. (Wordstream)
- The average shopping conversion rate (CVR) across all industries is 1.91% for Google Ads. (Wordstream)
- 58% of consumers ages 25-34 use voice search daily. (UpCity)
- 16% of people use voice search for local “near me” searches. (UpCity)
- 67% of consumers say they’re very likely to use voice search when seeking information. (UpCity)
- Active users of the Google Assistant grew 4X over the past year, as of 2019. (Think With Google)
- Google Assistant hit 1 billion app installs. (Android Police)
- AI-generated answers from SGE were available for 91% of entertainment queries but only 17% of healthcare queries. (Statista)
- The AI-generated answers in Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) do not match any links from the top 10 Google organic search results 93.8% of the time. (Search Engine Journal)
- Google displays a Search Generative element for 86.8% of all search queries. (Authoritas)
- 62% of generative links came from sources outside the top 10 ranking organic domains. Only 20.1% of generative URLs directly match an organic URL ranking on page one. (Authoritas)
- 70% of SEOs said that they were worried about the impact of SGE on organic search (Aira)
Learn more
Check out more resources on how Google works:
SEO
How To Use ChatGPT For Keyword Research
Anyone not using ChatGPT for keyword research is missing a trick.
You can save time and understand an entire topic in seconds instead of hours.
In this article, I outline my most effective ChatGPT prompts for keyword research and teach you how I put them together so that you, too, can take, edit, and enhance them even further.
But before we jump into the prompts, I want to emphasize that you shouldn’t replace keyword research tools or disregard traditional keyword research methods.
ChatGPT can make mistakes. It can even create new keywords if you give it the right prompt. For example, I asked it to provide me with a unique keyword for the topic “SEO” that had never been searched before.
“Interstellar Internet SEO: Optimizing content for the theoretical concept of an interstellar internet, considering the challenges of space-time and interplanetary communication delays.”
Although I want to jump into my LinkedIn profile and update my title to “Interstellar Internet SEO Consultant,” unfortunately, no one has searched that (and they probably never will)!
You must not blindly rely on the data you get back from ChatGPT.
What you can rely on ChatGPT for is the topic ideation stage of keyword research and inspiration.
ChatGPT is a large language model trained with massive amounts of data to accurately predict what word will come next in a sentence. However, it does not know how to do keyword research yet.
Instead, think of ChatGPT as having an expert on any topic armed with the information if you ask it the right question.
In this guide, that is exactly what I aim to teach you how to do – the most essential prompts you need to know when performing topical keyword research.
Best ChatGPT Keyword Research Prompts
The following ChatGPT keyword research prompts can be used on any niche, even a topic to which you are brand new.
For this demonstration, let’s use the topic of “SEO” to demonstrate these prompts.
Generating Keyword Ideas Based On A Topic
What Are The {X} Most Popular Sub-topics Related To {Topic}?
The first prompt is to give you an idea of the niche.
As shown above, ChatGPT did a great job understanding and breaking down SEO into three pillars: on-page, off-page & technical.
The key to the following prompt is to take one of the topics ChatGPT has given and query the sub-topics.
What Are The {X} Most Popular Sub-topics Related To {Sub-topic}?
For this example, let’s query, “What are the most popular sub-topics related to keyword research?”
Having done keyword research for over 10 years, I would expect it to output information related to keyword research metrics, the types of keywords, and intent.
Let’s see.
Again, right on the money.
To get the keywords you want without having ChatGPT describe each answer, use the prompt “list without description.”
Here is an example of that.
List Without Description The Top {X} Most Popular Keywords For The Topic Of {X}
You can even branch these keywords out further into their long-tail.
Example prompt:
List Without Description The Top {X} Most Popular Long-tail Keywords For The Topic “{X}”
List Without Description The Top Semantically Related Keywords And Entities For The Topic {X}
You can even ask ChatGPT what any topic’s semantically related keywords and entities are!
Tip: The Onion Method Of Prompting ChatGPT
When you are happy with a series of prompts, add them all to one prompt. For example, so far in this article, we have asked ChatGPT the following:
- What are the four most popular sub-topics related to SEO?
- What are the four most popular sub-topics related to keyword research
- List without description the top five most popular keywords for “keyword intent”?
- List without description the top five most popular long-tail keywords for the topic “keyword intent types”?
- List without description the top semantically related keywords and entities for the topic “types of keyword intent in SEO.”
Combine all five into one prompt by telling ChatGPT to perform a series of steps. Example:
“Perform the following steps in a consecutive order Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 4, and Step 5”
Example:
“Perform the following steps in a consecutive order Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 4 and Step 5. Step 1 – Generate an answer for the 3 most popular sub-topics related to {Topic}?. Step 2 – Generate 3 of the most popular sub-topics related to each answer. Step 3 – Take those answers and list without description their top 3 most popular keywords. Step 4 – For the answers given of their most popular keywords, provide 3 long-tail keywords. Step 5 – for each long-tail keyword offered in the response, a list without descriptions 3 of their top semantically related keywords and entities.”
Generating Keyword Ideas Based On A Question
Taking the steps approach from above, we can get ChatGPT to help streamline getting keyword ideas based on a question. For example, let’s ask, “What is SEO?”
“Perform the following steps in a consecutive order Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, and Step 4. Step 1 Generate 10 questions about “{Question}”?. Step 2 – Generate 5 more questions about “{Question}” that do not repeat the above. Step 3 – Generate 5 more questions about “{Question}” that do not repeat the above. Step 4 – Based on the above Steps 1,2,3 suggest a final list of questions avoiding duplicates or semantically similar questions.”
Generating Keyword Ideas Using ChatGPT Based On The Alphabet Soup Method
One of my favorite methods, manually, without even using a keyword research tool, is to generate keyword research ideas from Google autocomplete, going from A to Z.
You can also do this using ChatGPT.
Example prompt:
“give me popular keywords that includes the keyword “SEO”, and the next letter of the word starts with a”
Tip: Using the onion prompting method above, we can combine all this in one prompt.
“Give me five popular keywords that include “SEO” in the word, and the following letter starts with a. Once the answer has been done, move on to giving five more popular keywords that include “SEO” for each letter of the alphabet b to z.”
Generating Keyword Ideas Based On User Personas
When it comes to keyword research, understanding user personas is essential for understanding your target audience and keeping your keyword research focused and targeted. ChatGPT may help you get an initial understanding of customer personas.
Example prompt:
“For the topic of “{Topic}” list 10 keywords each for the different types of user personas”
You could even go a step further and ask for questions based on those topics that those specific user personas may be searching for:
As well as get the keywords to target based on those questions:
“For each question listed above for each persona, list the keywords, as well as the long-tail keywords to target, and put them in a table”
Generating Keyword Ideas Using ChatGPT Based On Searcher Intent And User Personas
Understanding the keywords your target persona may be searching is the first step to effective keyword research. The next step is to understand the search intent behind those keywords and which content format may work best.
For example, a business owner who is new to SEO or has just heard about it may be searching for “what is SEO.”
However, if they are further down the funnel and in the navigational stage, they may search for “top SEO firms.”
You can query ChatGPT to inspire you here based on any topic and your target user persona.
SEO Example:
“For the topic of “{Topic}” list 10 keywords each for the different types of searcher intent that a {Target Persona} would be searching for”
ChatGPT For Keyword Research Admin
Here is how you can best use ChatGPT for keyword research admin tasks.
Using ChatGPT As A Keyword Categorization Tool
One of the use cases for using ChatGPT is for keyword categorization.
In the past, I would have had to devise spreadsheet formulas to categorize keywords or even spend hours filtering and manually categorizing keywords.
ChatGPT can be a great companion for running a short version of this for you.
Let’s say you have done keyword research in a keyword research tool, have a list of keywords, and want to categorize them.
You could use the following prompt:
“Filter the below list of keywords into categories, target persona, searcher intent, search volume and add information to a six-column table: List of keywords – [LIST OF KEYWORDS], Keyword Search Volume [SEARCH VOLUMES] and Keyword Difficulties [KEYWORD DIFFICUTIES].”
Tip: Add keyword metrics from the keyword research tools, as using the search volumes that a ChatGPT prompt may give you will be wildly inaccurate at best.
Using ChatGPT For Keyword Clustering
Another of ChatGPT’s use cases for keyword research is to help you cluster. Many keywords have the same intent, and by grouping related keywords, you may find that one piece of content can often target multiple keywords at once.
However, be careful not to rely only on LLM data for clustering. What ChatGPT may cluster as a similar keyword, the SERP or the user may not agree with. But it is a good starting point.
The big downside of using ChatGPT for keyword clustering is actually the amount of keyword data you can cluster based on the memory limits.
So, you may find a keyword clustering tool or script that is better for large keyword clustering tasks. But for small amounts of keywords, ChatGPT is actually quite good.
A great use small keyword clustering use case using ChatGPT is for grouping People Also Ask (PAA) questions.
Use the following prompt to group keywords based on their semantic relationships. For example:
“Organize the following keywords into groups based on their semantic relationships, and give a short name to each group: [LIST OF PAA], create a two-column table where each keyword sits on its own row.
Using Chat GPT For Keyword Expansion By Patterns
One of my favorite methods of doing keyword research is pattern spotting.
Most seed keywords have a variable that can expand your target keywords.
Here are a few examples of patterns:
1. Question Patterns
(who, what, where, why, how, are, can, do, does, will)
“Generate [X] keywords for the topic “[Topic]” that contain any or all of the following “who, what, where, why, how, are, can, do, does, will”
2. Comparison Patterns
Example:
“Generate 50 keywords for the topic “{Topic}” that contain any or all of the following “for, vs, alternative, best, top, review”
3. Brand Patterns
Another one of my favorite modifiers is a keyword by brand.
We are probably all familiar with the most popular SEO brands; however, if you aren’t, you could ask your AI friend to do the heavy lifting.
Example prompt:
“For the top {Topic} brands what are the top “vs” keywords”
4. Search Intent Patterns
One of the most common search intent patterns is “best.”
When someone is searching for a “best {topic}” keyword, they are generally searching for a comprehensive list or guide that highlights the top options, products, or services within that specific topic, along with their features, benefits, and potential drawbacks, to make an informed decision.
Example:
“For the topic of “[Topic]” what are the 20 top keywords that include “best”
Again, this guide to keyword research using ChatGPT has emphasized the ease of generating keyword research ideas by utilizing ChatGPT throughout the process.
Keyword Research Using ChatGPT Vs. Keyword Research Tools
Free Vs. Paid Keyword Research Tools
Like keyword research tools, ChatGPT has free and paid options.
However, one of the most significant drawbacks of using ChatGPT for keyword research alone is the absence of SEO metrics to help you make smarter decisions.
To improve accuracy, you could take the results it gives you and verify them with your classic keyword research tool – or vice versa, as shown above, uploading accurate data into the tool and then prompting.
However, you must consider how long it takes to type and fine-tune your prompt to get your desired data versus using the filters within popular keyword research tools.
For example, if we use a popular keyword research tool using filters, you could have all of the “best” queries with all of their SEO metrics:
And unlike ChatGPT, generally, there is no token limit; you can extract several hundred, if not thousands, of keywords at a time.
As I have mentioned multiple times throughout this piece, you cannot blindly trust the data or SEO metrics it may attempt to provide you with.
The key is to validate the keyword research with a keyword research tool.
ChatGPT For International SEO Keyword Research
ChatGPT can be a terrific multilingual keyword research assistant.
For example, if you wanted to research keywords in a foreign language such as French. You could ask ChatGPT to translate your English keywords;
- The key is to take the data above and paste it into a popular keyword research tool to verify.
- As you can see below, many of the keyword translations for the English keywords do not have any search volume for direct translations in French.
But don’t worry, there is a workaround: If you have access to a competitor keyword research tool, you can see what webpage is ranking for that query – and then identify the top keyword for that page based on the ChatGPT translated keywords that do have search volume.
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Or, if you don’t have access to a paid keyword research tool, you could always take the top-performing result, extract the page copy, and then ask ChatGPT what the primary keyword for the page is.
Key Takeaway
ChatGPT can be an expert on any topic and an invaluable keyword research tool. However, it is another tool to add to your toolbox when doing keyword research; it does not replace traditional keyword research tools.
As shown throughout this tutorial, from making up keywords at the beginning to inaccuracies around data and translations, ChatGPT can make mistakes when used for keyword research.
You cannot blindly trust the data you get back from ChatGPT.
However, it can offer a shortcut to understanding any topic for which you need to do keyword research and, as a result, save you countless hours.
But the key is how you prompt.
The prompts I shared with you above will help you understand a topic in minutes instead of hours and allow you to better seed keywords using keyword research tools.
It can even replace mundane keyword clustering tasks that you used to do with formulas in spreadsheets or generate ideas based on keywords you give it.
Paired with traditional keyword research tools, ChatGPT for keyword research can be a powerful tool in your arsenal.
More resources:
Featured Image: Tatiana Shepeleva/Shutterstock
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